Quietus
Quietus, also known as the Discipline of Silent Death, is practiced by Clan Al-Shavar. It focuses on elements of blood, vitae control, poison, and pestilence, allowing targets to be killed in all manner of ways. Level 1 Silence of Death Many Al-Shavar claim never to have heard their targets’ death screams. Silence of Death imbues the vampire with a mystical silence that radiates from her body, muting all noise within a certain vicinity. No sound occurs inside this zone, though sounds originating outside the area of effect may be heard by anyone in it. Rumors abound of certain skilled Al-Shavar viziers who have the ability to silence a location rather than a circumference that follows them, but no proof of this has been forthcoming. Level 2 Scorpion’s Touch By changing the properties of her blood, a vampire may create powerful venom that strips her prey of his resilience. This power is greatly feared by other Kindred, and all manner of hideous tales concerning methods of delivery circulate among trembling coteries. Kindred with Quietus are known to deliver the poison by coating their weapons with it, blighting their opponents with a touch, or spitting it like a cobra. An apocryphal account speaks of a proud Prince who discovered an Al-Shavar plotting her exsanguination and began to diablerize her would-be assassin. Halfway through the act, she learned that she had ingested a dire quantity of tainted blood and was then unable to resist the weakened hashashiyyin’s renewed attack. Level 3 Dagon’s Call This terrible power allows a vampire to drown her target in his own blood. By concentrating, the Kindred bursts her target’s blood vessels and fills his lungs with vitae that strangles him from within. The blood actually constricts the target’s body from the inside as it floods through his system; thus, it works even on unbreathing Kindred. Until the target collapses in agony or death throes, this power has no visible effect, and many Kindred like it because it leaves no trace of their presence. However, in order to use this power, the vampire must first make contact with their target, whereafter they will have a one hour window to activate the power, regardless of their proximity to the target. In order to sustain the power against a Kindred target, the user must continually battle against the will of whoever they are afflicting, elsewise the effects will cease. Level 4 Baal’s Caress The penultimate use of blood as a weapon (short of diablerie itself), Baal’s Caress allows the Kindred to transmute her blood into a virulent ichor that destroys any living or undead flesh it touches. In nights of yore, when Al-Shavar led the charges of Saracen legions, the Assassins were often seen licking their blades, slicing open their tongues and lubricating their weapons with this foul secretion. Baal’s Caress may be used to augment any bladed weapon; everything from poisoned knives and swords to tainted fingernails and claws has been reported. Level 5 Taste of Death A refinement of Baal’s Caress, Taste of Death allows the Cainite to spit caustic blood at her target. The blood coughed forth with this power burns flesh and corrodes bone; some vampires have been reported to vomit voluminous streams of vitae that reduce their targets to heaps of sludge. Level 6 Blood Sweat Although vampires do not have functioning sebaceous glands, they are still capable of sweating at times of extreme stress. This “sweat” is actually a thin sheen of blood on the Kindred's forehead and palms. Most Kindred see blood sweat as an admission of fear or guilt. The vampire who has mastered Blood Sweat is capable of inducing these feelings in a subject to a preternatural degree. The victim experiences a torrential outpouring of vitae if he harbors the tiniest shred of remorse for any action he has ever undertaken. In order for this power to function, line of sight and uninterrupted concentration must be maintained. Selective Silence Although Silence of Death is an effective tool for the battlefield and the court alike, it is indiscriminate in its effects. The assassin who uses it in preparation for firing a shotgun also silences the radio over which her comrades might warn her of an oncoming guard. The courtier who suppresses a room full of dissenting voices is likewise unable to speak her own mind. Selective Silence allows the skilled Kindred to overcome these limitations by silencing only those individuals or objects that she wants to silence. When using this power, most individuals exhale a thin mist of blood that clings to the selected subjects, gradually evaporating as Selective Silence’s effects fade. Some vampires also use a similar technique when invoking Silence of Death, in which case the mist surrounds them and moves with them Ripples of the Heart According to Al-Shavar lore, this technique originated with a Byzantine scholar who wanted to protect his herd from the thirst of other Kindred. Ripples of the Heart allows a vampireto leave emotions within the bloodstream of any mortal from whom he feeds. Any other vampire who subsequently drinks from that mortal experiences those emotions as if they were his own. Purification Although most mortal cultures affix negative connotations to the spilling of blood, most Al-Shavar— indeed, most vampires — have quite the opposite reaction to it. For them, blood is an unlife-affirming and reinvigorating substance. Purification works on this principle, using the power of vitae to cleanse and restore. Rather than purging foreign taints from the body, Purification allows its wielder to cleanse other individuals’ minds and souls of stains, including those left by the mind control of other Kindred. The vampire using this power expels his own blood through his skin and allows it to soak through his subject, slowly dissipating. As it does so, it carries away spiritual impurities and outside influences. Level 7 Baal’s Bloody Talons The toxin generated by Baal’s Caress is not enough to significantly harm some truly fearsome foes. This progressive development of that lesser technique allows its user to envenom his weapon with a blood-based poison so potent that it corrodes the very weapon that bears it, eating away at the strongest metal in a minute or less. However, its effects on its victims are spectacular enough to make the loss of even the most treasured blades worthwhile. This power’s effects are of very limited duration, as the substance it creates will quickly evaporate away. Poison the Well of Life Beyond leaving emotional traces in a subject’s blood, the master of this Quietus power can now taint that same vitae, making it into a deadly poison for any other vampire who drinks from that mortal. Some vampires use Poison the Well of Life to guard their own herds against “poachers” or to ward specific vessels against indiscriminate feeding. Others have been known to employ it as a subtle trap for other vampires, turning herds against their owners. Level 8 Songs of Distant Vitae Blood magic practitioners and individuals skilled at Auspex have long known that vitae can carry residual impressions of emotion and personality. This power invokes those impressions to overwhelm its victim with “remembered” images and sensations drawn from the vessels who held that blood before the vampire fed from them. Particularly strong-willed or hardened subjects may shrug off these visions as daydreams, but those who are less self-possessed can be permanently changed by the experience. A side effect of the use of this power is the partial destruction of the vitae from which the images are drawn. Some viziers theorize that this is the result of motes of the vessels’ consciousness making an effort to escape their usurper. Level 9 Condemn the Sins of the Father Although ancient Al-Shavar judges recognized that heritage does not equal guilt, they also encountered many situations in which a vampire’s entire brood had committed the same crime. In such cases, the judges often decreed the same punishment for all transgressors. This technique, which modern viziers believe to have originated at that time, allows its wielder to administer such judgments. Through Condemn the Sins of the Father, a vampire can apply lesser Quietus powers to an entire lineage.Category:Powers